


Lily and James meet for the first time ever

by War_Disnei



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Childhood Memories, Evans family - Freeform, First Meetings, Friendship/Love, Gen, Marauders, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, Pool Fun, Sibling Rivalry, jily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 19:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12283140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/War_Disnei/pseuds/War_Disnei
Summary: It's summer, and the Evans family is on its way to Grandma Tulip's house. An unsuspecting Lily meets her future husband for the first time.





	Lily and James meet for the first time ever

Oakham, July 1964

 

Two little girls were causing a ruckus in the back of the old economy car, as they fought over what looked like a stuffed mouse.

"Mine! Mr Cheesez is _mine_ _!_ " the youngest girl, a gingery ruffled one, whined.

"It was mine before it was yours!" the older girl, a polished tidy one, replied while keeping the mouse out of her sister's reach, unnerving her to no end.

 

"Girls, give it a rest, now, won't you?" Viola Evans yawned from the passanger's seat.

"But mummy! Tuney won't let me play with it!" Lily the youngest girl meowed.

"Petunia..." Viola tiredly admonished.

"It's my turn! She has played with it _all day!_ "

"Mummeeee!!" Lily banshee-shrieked.

"Why do you care about that old rat, anyway? Rats are filthy, and they spread lots of nasty illnesses" Viola attempted exasperatedly, throwing all her "good-parenting-book-skills" out the window. Her husband, Saul - an auburn-whiskered man in his early-thirties - glanced at her worriedly from the driver's seat.

At that, Lily's whining stopped cold-turkey, as she incredulously eyed the back of her mum's head.

"B-but...it's Mr Cheesez!"

"Yes, sweetie, but that doesn't make him any less of a rat*...look, look! I can see Grandma's house!" Viola exclaimed, excited at the prospect of getting out of the car and reuniting with her elderly mother.

 

\---

 

After a warm reunion which included a tour of grandma Tulip's ever-expanding greenhouse, a scrumptious home cooked dinner and a restoring night's sleep, the Evans family decided to give the new Oakham public pool a try.

Viola thought it a good idea to ensure that the girls released bottled up energy before they met with great-aunt Pulsatilla and a bunch of other elderly ladies later that day, so off swimming they went.

With pink, speedo-like bathing-suit bottoms and piggy-tails, Lily felt a bit like a piglet herself. At four years old, she wasn't as self conscious as to disdain her shoddy swimming apparel (which, on the contrary, pleased her tomboyish side), but had enough awareness to feel inferior to Petunia, who boasted enviable (according to Lily, at least) swimming skills and a brand new Olympic bathing suit. She could even hold her breath underwater! Although fearing that she'd never be a match for her sister, Lily nonetheless was determined to show Petunia that she _at least_ amounted to something.

So, as Petunia demonstrated her breaststroke technique to their cheering parents, Lily splashed water around herself in the kiddies' pool, generating as much foam as her tiny body could.

"Look, Tuney, look, a sea storm!" she chirped at her sister, attempting to catch her attention, to no avail.

Feelig rejected, Lily quit trying, pensively staring at her submerged toes. If only she could generate _real waves,_ then Tuney really would consider her. Dejectedly, Lily lowered herself in the water a bit and jumped a little, wishing to be as powerful as Little Mermaid's father from her fairytale book. She jumped again, this time more forcefully, keeping her eyes closed and trying to envision herself as a sort of all-powerful Neptune. It was at that point that something unexplainable happened: a wave larger than the pool's width suddenly rose, moving large amounts of water before crashing against a tiled wall. Worried parents hurriedly pulled their kids out, rushing to complain with the dumbfounded management about "not knowing that a wave machine was in place".

Viola and Saul attempted to console a freaked-out, pouty Petunia before heading out themselves, while Lily was having a hard time understanding what had just taken place. She was confused - mostly disappointed at Tuney's reaction - and didn't know what the fuss all those people were making was about. Why wasn't anyone in awe with what had just happened?

There was, however, an exception.

"Do it again!"

Lily heard a hoarse boyish voice and felt water splashed against her shoulders as she turned around, intrigued, finding herself face to face with a tanned child about her age. He had his huge dark eyes fixed on her, and, unlike all the others, he didn't seem upset. Lily instantly felt drawn to him.

At Lily's inaction, the boy provoked her again, this time splashing water on her face "DO it again!" he shrieked, giving her a toothy smile of the most mischievous kind.

Lily was annoyed now. For some reason, she realized she liked and despised the kid at the same time - if such a thing was even possible.

"No! I choose when to do what I want to do" she replied, her eyebrows knitted together.

The boy laughed, seemingly amused, reaching out to grab a pigtail of hers, but was blocked by Lily, who rather mercilessly shoved his face in the water, being taller than him. As the boy emerged, his dark hair dripping, Lily was surprised that he was't upset like Tuney would have been, nor was he crying for mummy. He still looked at her with that same intensity, his thooty smile still in place, his intriguing foreignness still luring her into his world, which promised to be as weird and messed up as hers. For a moment, Lily wished that they could be playmates, until...

"JAMES! James where are you?" a tall, middle-aged, dark-haired woman appeared, worriedly searching for her only, boisterous child. Lily saw the boy squeal moments before being pulled out of the water by the woman, who shook her head knowingly.

"Always looking for trouble, aren't we?" the woman told the boy, who suffocated a laugh and turned in her arms to steal one last glance at Lily.

It was a matter of seconds before she herself was dragged out of the pool by her own parents, ready to embark a Great-aunt-filled afternoon.

Lily would not think about the unusual, provoking child for a long time, but somewhere, in a tiny section of her mind, his image would stay afloat, never to be forgotten.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *subtle reference to Peter Pettigrew. Remember the lesson, Lily!


End file.
